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The Twin Cities’ theater scene has boomed in recent years, spawning dozens of new productions and acting companies. But even as new venues have opened, ticket sales have slowed or leveled off. Can the show go on?
by Christy DeSmith
Photo by Thomas Strand
(page 1 of 2)
It was a dramatic scene in a traditional production of King Lear, and it was not supposed to draw chuckles. But the audience was antsy: The actors of the Minnesota Shakespeare Project, a small theater company performing at an obscure venue in Minneapolis, had been doing quiet disservice to the Bard’s tragedy for nearly two hours. Stony-faced and emotionally hollow, the players slogged through their lines like grade-school students reading aloud from textbooks.
So when Lear’s eldest daughter, Goneril, exchanged a peck on the lips with her manservant, Oswald, two 50-something women in the audience could no longer suppress their laughter. They tittered, shifted in their seats, and whispered into one another’s ears. What was so funny? The performer playing Oswald was an ivory-skinned blonde—the same actress who played Lear’s daughter Cordelia on alternate nights.
The Shakespeare Project’s gender-bending casting was not a nod to theatrical innovation. Rather, it was a sign of a festering problem: a labor shortage in the Twin Cities’ theater community. Small companies increasingly have trouble finding not only male thespians, but talented actors of any gender. And that’s a sign of an even larger problem.
Minneapolis has “more theater seats per capita than any other U.S. city outside New York,” as the city’s convention and visitors association is fond of pointing out, and the supply of seats is growing. Add to that St. Paul’s houses (the Ordway, Penumbra, Park Square) and all the suburban playhouses, and it is difficult not to conclude that the local theater market is oversaturated–that there’s an overabundance of troupes and a surfeit of seats. Coupled with a drop-off in audience interest, the situation leads some folks to wonder: Is this sustainable?
In February 2001, the Star Tribune published an article that set the local theater community abuzz. The paper’s arts reporters and pollsters had crunched some numbers and found that, in the year 2000, a total of 2.3 million theater tickets were sold in the Twin Cities metro, an area with a population of just 2.8 million. A lot of season ticket holders and repeat buyers made possible this statistic, of course, but it was an astonishing figure nonetheless: Ticket purchases in the Twin Cities equaled a whopping 82 percent of the populace. Compare that to, say, Boston, where total theater ticket purchases for the same year amounted to only 18 percent of the area population.
It was a sign of the times: The Twin Cities had been enjoying a cultural explosion for nearly 20 years. During the 1980s and early ’90s, along with the blossoming of acclaimed local music and visual arts communities, came the births of such mid-sized institutions as Theatre de la Jeune Lune and the Frank and Jungle theaters. Minneapolis and St. Paul, particularly in the mid- to late ’90s, were fertile ground for planting small troupes: Some of the best to come from the era were Theater Latté Da and the now-defunct Eye of the Storm company.
And then, of course, the do-it-yourself, make-me-a-celebrity ’00s found everyone from recent drama grads to hobbyists forming their own small troupes—the scale and quality of which were formerly reserved for the Fringe Festival. Eager, young pilgrims flocked to our vibrant scene. Shows sprang up in more and more venues, including non-traditional ones like cemeteries and brew pubs. Ensembles that wrote, directed, and staged their own plays (Live Action Set and 3 Sticks come to mind) proliferated.
Today, there are more than 100 theater companies in the Twin Cities. “When I first moved to town in 1991, there were about one-third as many theaters as there are today, maybe even just one-quarter,” observes Edwin Strout, artistic director of Joking Apart Theater.
Such growth was fueled, in part, by funding from the Target, Bush, and McKnight foundations. During the ’80s, as national and state governments slashed arts funding, our metro was uniquely positioned: It had a wealth of foundations and corporate philanthropists willing to finance theatrical work. What’s more, the presence of the St. Paul–based Jerome Foundation, which supports emerging artists who live in either Minnesota or New York City, made the Twin Cities seem uniquely progressive among smaller U.S. metros. Artists started moving here from New York. The Jerome’s grants for playwrights served as magnets for up-and-coming talent: Among the grant’s most famous recipients are August Wilson and Lee Blessing.
But the ax dropped on September 11, 2001. After this, cultural anthropologists noticed Americans were staying home more often, opting to invest their entertainment dollars in, say, Pay-Per-View and Netflix, as opposed to, say, a new show at the Playwrights’ Center. Kathy Graves, a seasoned communications consultant who has counseled the Jungle, Mixed Blood, and SteppingStone theaters, confirms what has been the subject of much chatter in the theater community these past few years: an industry-wide plummet in ticket sales following 9/11. She hasn’t yet seen a full recovery.
Several acclaimed, small theaters closed shop in the years that followed:
3 Legged Race, Eye of the Storm, and Fifty Foot Penguin. Others went dormant: Outward Spiral and, most recently, the Burning House Group. Additionally, some of the best mid-sized theaters—Penumbra, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre—have spoken candidly about their money troubles, which mostly stem from slumps at the box office.
Did we reach a saturation point back in 2000? Audience sizes remain healthy at some of the largest, most visible organizations (both the Guthrie and Jungle reported increased box-office revenue in the most recent fiscal year). But other companies struggle to lure audiences. Attending a show somewhere other than the Guthrie, the Children’s Theatre, the Ordway, or the Orpheum can be a lonely experience. Skimpy turnouts have been observed lately at Gremlin Theater, Illusion Theater, and Open Eye Figure Theatre. One night during the run of a show at the Ritz, the audience was smaller than the cast. One man waved to another theatergoer a few empty rows away and remarked: “This must be a family affair.”
Comments may be edited for length, clarity, or appropriateness.
Reader Comments:
Being a huge musical theatre buff, I read your article on Twin Cities theatre in your recent issue with great interest. Your listing of Chaska Valley Family Theatre was great; however, they are Community Theatre and not the best offering in the area. Minnetonka Community Theatre, directed by R. Kent Knutson from Minnetonka High School, is the most professional and talented group. Check it out.
I find this article wholly irresponsible.
This issue (over-saturation of the theater community) rears its head every few years. Ms. DeSmith has not uncovered a new phenomenom.
Ms. DeSmith suggets that many small theater companies should take down their shingle and let the "real" artists work. Where do you suppose the real artists come from?
The problem is not an overabundance of space- the problem is the rent is so ridiculously high most small theatre companies can't AFFORD to rent these fancy new theatres. Look at smaller, cheaper venues like BLB, always full. Also, there is NO shortage of excellent non-union female actors in the Cities, just male ones. There isn't ENOUGH union work to lure union actors to the cities full time.
I am a Twin Cities theatre practitioner and avid theatre-goer and, having read Christy DeSmith's article illustrating her unfounded opinions on Minnesota theatre, I have several questions. Why would a publication that seems to take pride in delineating the beauty of our state's landscape, population, and culture choose to print a story with such cheap shots at those among us trying, against great odds, to make a career in the local theatre community? And while DeSmith makes it clear that she can turn a scathing phrase aimed at a group whose work apparently was not her cup of tea, what, exactly is her point? Her petty jabs and outrageous overstatements, backed by no discernible facts, undermine anything remotely resembling the thesis that she seems to be trying to support. And an article whose only goal seems to be to discourage potential audience members from taking a chance on local theatre seems a hideous affront to the artistic community of our state and quite out of place in a magazine such as yours.
I respectfully disagree with your comments on MN Shakespeare's Project production of King Lear. Granted, I was there on a different night, but saw nothing hollow or inept about the production. If two women were twittering at the sight of two female actors kissing, I am more likely to chalk that down to discomfort with non-hetero sexuality than a sign of a festering talent problem.
A slackening audience base is not unique to theatre. In literary publishing, there are writers galore but readers are a dying breed. I've seen bad theatre, read horrible books, but hesitate to suggest that readers quit reading (or only read Penguin classics), that new readers should think twice before diving into a diversity of literature, or that arts funding is inherently harmful to creativity.
I am actually kind of surprised that any artist here WOULDN'T think there was an oversaturation of theatre in the twin cities. DeSmith seems to be laying the blame at the feet of small and emerging companies, but I would contend that there is more interesting, quality work coming out of brand new groups then out of mid-size troops who are fighting to KEEP their audience w/o concern for quality.
It's too bad DeSmith didn't bother contacting Anoka Community Theater or Lakeshore Players. These small companies have done well because they serve folks who don't like driving into the Metro and aren't so concerned with appearing erudite . We may see a rise in (gasp) suburban/neighborhood companies that seek to serve the immediate area. Now won't THAT offend Ms. DeSmith's elitist sensibility!
Maybe the Twin Cities gained its cultural reputation BECAUSE we live in a community that values organizations like KFAI as much as we do Minnesota Public Radio. I hope we don't turn into a society that doesn't consider it culture unless you pay $80 at the Guthrie or doesn't consider it football unless the players aren't NFL billionaires.
Amateurs aren't ruining theater. $5/gallon. gas is.